David Waugh, an Atherton Tablelands local went in for surgery to have a standard reverse shoulder replacement in 2018.

As a young man, he was expected to fully recover and be back to work in 3-6 months. Unfortunately, a few months down the track he found out the shoulder joint was infected and the replacement had to be taken out as part of a 2 step process. This procedure had to be performed in Brisbane.

7 years on, Dave has had over 70 surgeries to attempt to fix the issues that arose from chronic infections. Most of which have been in Brisbane hospitals. He has had 2 shoulder replacements that failed and a number of flaps that had to be taken from various parts of his body to cover the holes in his shoulder that had been caused by removing infected tissue. He has also experienced clots, skin parts, vein grafts and sepsis throughout this journey.

They tried to stabilise the shoulder with a fusion (metal screws and plates all through his shoulder) however this also, needed to be removed due to infection. Over the years, the infection has been found to be in his bones surrounding his shoulder, including his arm, which, despite long courses of intravenous antibiotics, has not been able to be eradicated. This has led to chronic wounds that won’t heal and numerous infections.

Unfortunately, the doctors have reached the end of the tunnel, and he is currently in Brisbane and is scheduled to have a fore quarter amputation within the next week. Such a scary, life altering procedure, which becomes even more difficult as it is in Brisbane. He is currently looking at a 3-4 week rehabilitation in Brisbane after the surgery.